937. Verse 3. And no accursed thing shall be there, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall minister unto Him, signifies that in the church which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be any who are separated from the Lord, because the Lord Himself will reign there; and they who are in truths from Him through the Word, and do His commandments, will be with Him, because conjoined with Him. By "no accursed thing shall be there," is signified that not any evil or falsity from evil, which separates from the Lord, will be in the New Jerusalem; and as evil and falsity are not given, except in a recipient, which is man, it is signified that not any who are separated from the Lord will be there. By "accursed thing" in the Word is meant all that evil and falsity which separates man and turns him away from the Lord; for then the man becomes a devil and a satan. By "the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it," is signified that the Lord Himself will reign in that Church; for by "a throne" is here signified a kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom is where He alone is worshiped. By "His servants shall minister unto Him," is signified that they who are in truths from the Lord through the Word will be with Him, and will do His commandments because conjoined with Him. That by "the Lord's servants" are signified they who are in truths from him, may be seen above (n. 3, 380); and by "ministers" those who are in good from Him (n. 128); hence by "the servants who will minister unto Him," are signified those who are in truths from good from the Lord through the Word, and do His commandments.
[2] Because the church at this day does not know that conjunction with the Lord makes heaven, and that conjunction is effected by the acknowledgement that He is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time by a life according to His commandments, therefore something shall be said respecting these things. He who knows nothing about them may say, What is conjunction? How can acknowledgment and life make conjunction? What need is there of these? Cannot everyone be saved from mercy alone? What need is there of any other means of salvation than faith alone? Is not God merciful and omnipotent? But let him know that in the spiritual world knowledge and acknowledgment produce all presence, and that affection which is of love effects all conjunction. For spaces there are nothing else but appearances according to similarity of minds, that is, of affections and thence of thoughts. Wherefore when anyone knows another either by reputation, or from interaction with him, or from conversation, or from relationship, while he thinks of him from the idea of that knowledge, he becomes present with him, although he might be to appearance a thousand stadia off. And if one also loves another whom he knows, he dwells with him in one society; and if he loves him inmostly, in one house. This is the state of all in the whole spiritual world; and this state of all derives its origin from this, that the Lord is present with everyone according to faith, and is conjoined according to love. Faith, and thence the Lord's presence are given through the knowledges of truths from the Word; especially concerning the Lord Himself there; but love and thence conjunction are given through a life according to His commandments, for the Lord says:
He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and I will love him; and will make an abode with him (John 14:21-24).
[3] But how this is done shall also be told. The Lord loves everyone, and wills to be conjoined to him, but He cannot be conjoined as long as the man is in the delight of evil, as in the delight of hating and revenging, in the delight of committing adultery and whoredom, in the delight of robbing or stealing under any form, in the delight of blaspheming and lying, and in the lusts of the love of self and the world; for everyone who is in these is in companionship with the devils who are in hell. The Lord indeed loves them even there; but He cannot be conjoined with them, unless the delights of those evils are removed; and these cannot be removed by the Lord, unless the man examines himself that he may know his evils, acknowledges and confesses them before the Lord, and wills to desist from them, and thus perform repentance. This the man must do as of himself, because he does not feel that he does anything from the Lord; and this is given to man, because conjunction, that it may be conjunction, must be reciprocal, of man with the Lord, and of the Lord with man. As far therefore as evils with their delights are thus removed, so far the Lord's love enters, which, as was said, is universal towards all; and man is then led away from hell, and is led into heaven. This a man must do in the world; for such as man is in the world as to his spirit, such he remains to eternity, with the difference only, that his state becomes more perfect, if he has lived well; because he is not then clothed with a material body, but the spiritual lives in a spiritual body.